Search Your Feelings
by TheNameIsErronBlack
Summary: Upon Cisco's insistence, Barry and Caitlin decide to watch Star Wars together.


One of the many indignities that Barry Allen was forced to suffer through on an almost-daily basis was waiting. Even prior to his days of superheroics, Barry loathed waiting, but his newfound abilities made the time between Caitlin, Cisco, and Doctor Wells researching the bad guy and Barry punching the bad guy in the jaw interminable. Of course, honing his skills and his compatriots (Or "Team Flash", as Cisco colloquially dubbed them) mitigated this to an extent, but just knowing that some criminal was roaming free and threatening innocent people while he could do nothing but wait around for Cisco or Caitlin to rattle off facts about his or her meta-human physiology annoyed him. The present was one of those times. As fate would have it, one time contract worker Bob Thoris, courtesy of the STAR Labs Particle Accelerator, gained the ability to merge with electronic signals, which somehow translated into the ability to jump between devices at will. Any camera, computer, or television served as his personal transportation system and getaway vehicle, meaning that he had access to any bank vault or overly paranoid rich person's home. Barry obviously viewed him as more of a pestilence than an active threat to the safety of Central City, as the look of unadulterated terror in his eyes prior to his escape through the First Bank of Central City's security system so concisely communicated, but Barry knew that all it took was for Transponder (As Cisco colloquially dubbed him) to hop into some sort of top secret military base and suddenly he would be a legitimate threat.

"Guys! Guys, guys, guys. You need to get down here ASAP!" Cisco's voice rang through the intercom and rattled Barry out of his thoughts. Had Transpo- Thoris deduced his identity and location? That put himself, Cisco, Doctor Wells, and Caitlin in immediate danger. With new found vigor, Barry dashed down to the STAR Labs Mechanical Operative Reapplication Epicenter, once populated by some of the most brilliant engineers on the planet now dominated by comic book and movie paraphernalia courtesy of Cisco's redecoration. According to him, it made things "slightly less horrid" as he assembled his gadgets.  
Knowing that Caitlin was doubtless in tow, Barry surveyed the area for Transponder. If he could just get the drop on him before he could plan his escape, Barry could take him down easily. Unfortunately, however, Barry only found Cisco standing before his computer screen and gripping the ends of his desk as if he was in danger of floating away

"Cisco?"

Not so much as a flinch.

"Cisco!"

Cisco's head snapped up before he turned around to face Barry. Instead of abject terror, as Barry expected, Cisco mouth had been stuck in a permanent fixture of somewhere between ecstasy and sheer delirium and he held his hands over his head like they were permanently fixed that way by an omnipresent puppeteer. Barry was incredulous.

"What's wrong? Is it ready?" Cisco suggested using a specialized short-range EMP burst which would shut down all electronics in the area without permanently disabling them could trap Thoris, a relatively simple task which nevertheless took fifteen minutes longer than Cisco originally estimated. Between Cisco's lack of urgency and his inability to convey the details of the present potential emergency, Barry's minuscule amount of patience was rapidly waning.

"It's beautiful, man. It's so beautiful!" Barry scanned the screen. Cisco had been viewing…YouTube?

"You've been down here watching YouTube while you're supposed to be working on taking down our meta-human?" Barry ran his fingers through his hair as he mentally noted Caitlin's entrance. Hopefully she would be able to extract some logic out of Cisco.

Cisco looked at Barry as if he was speaking in an alien tongue. "Dude, the grenade's been done. I called up my girl Laurel a while ago and she gave me a variant of her sister's Canary Cry," He pointed to an adjacent desk on which sat a light blue sphere that hopefully would spell the end of Thoris' criminal days. "But, but, but, something more pressing has occurred," He signaled toward the screen as if presenting a diamond-encrusted treasure from the vault of Mount Olympus. Instead: "Star Wars: The Force Awakens Trailer (Official)" "It's the trailer for The Force Awakens and it's as every bit as amazingly awesome as every dream I've had in the past ten years told me it would be!" He concluded by raising his clenched fists into the air and performing a small impromptu shuffle.

"We've been hunting a meta-human," Caitlin squinted. "And you've been down here watching Star Trek?" Barry always appreciated having Caitlin around to interject with some logic whenever Cisco felt compelled to go on tangents, and equally grateful to have Cisco when the roles were reversed after he returned to STAR Labs with all manner of battle scars.

Cisco shot Caitlin a look as if she had just committed sacrilege. "Wuh-Or-Zah. Wars! How is it so difficult to make that distinction?"

"Well, I've never seen Star Wars, or Star Trek, or Battlestar Avengers, or whatever,"

Cisco stood ramrod stiff at the revelation. "You…you aren't serious? Are you?" Caitlin was unphased. Barry prepared for the bombardment of vitriolic rage that would no doubt bellow from the perturbed Cisco momentarily.

"I just never watched it."

Before the exchange could continue, Barry interjected with the more pressing matter at hand. "Are we really having this discussion right now? You two are debating over crappy science fiction movies while Scrooge McDuck is using Central City as his own figurative swimming pool,"

"Crappy?!"

Cisco's tirade was delayed by the whir of the elevator as Doctor Wells entered the lab. Barry felt the cool anxiety that dominated his body dissipate and the tension in his muscles relived after its amplification from Cisco's energy. He gripped the cool ends of the desk as Doctor Wells began to speak.  
"While I would love nothing more than to debate about the quality of my preferred science-fiction property of choice, we quite clearly have more pressing matters at hand," He shifted towards Cisco. "If you had been as proactive in your hunt for Mister Thoris, you'd have known that our present threat just tripped a sensor at the engineering vault at the Wayne Enterprises Weapons Development Center in Central City I was lucky enough to plant the other day. Security and Central City Police are en route, but I fear our meta-human will be long gone by the time they arrive. If you'd be so kind as to solidify the final preparations for your grenade and then Mister Allen can, as they say, "lay out" Mister Thoris."

Cisco looked at the floor like a child who had just been chastised by a parent. "It's, uh, all ready. Barry just has to click this big red button here." He picked up the grenade and pointed to the large red circle surrounded by the words "PRESS THIS PLEASE" written in sharpie.

"Simpli-"

Viewo! Off Barry went.

Kabloom! Cisco's device worked like a charm and Thoris barely had time to react.

Thwack! Down for the count.

"city." Cisco threw in. And with that, the wrath of Transponder came to an end.  
After depositing the unconscious Thoris into the basement, Barry welcomed the relief that would undoubtedly wash over him. Strangely, though, he felt a curious, cool anxiety. Like Captain Cold had unleashed his signature weapon on the inside of his arms.

Doctor Wells cocked his head and smirked at Barry. "Impressive, Mister Allen, even by your own lofty standards. You managed to unleash Cisco's electromagnetic weapon, incapacitate our dear friend Thoris, and return to Star Labs in a minimal amount of time. Even now, you're improving every day," He shifted his chair towards the elevator. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I owe Bruce Wayne a favor. You're all free to enjoy yourselves."

Cisco was clearly restraining himself until he was absolutely certain Doctor Wells was out of vicinity. "I cannot fathom, in the farthest reaches of this galaxy or any other, how you have never even seen Star Wars on television. It can't be done. It simply cannot be done! Were you doing nothing but homework and knitting throughout high school or something?" Cisco's eyes had squinted shut in disbelief.

"I'm sorry I was more focused on establishing a future for myself than wasting time with children's movies," Caitlin retaliated.

Barry, for some peculiar reason, was agitated by Cisco's attack on Caitlin. Of course, Cisco was a great friend who would never even consider genuinely hurting Caitlin in any manner, but he detested the way he spoke to Caitlin as if she had committed some great crime against society. Not that Caitlin needed his assistance in a verbal duel of wits, a fact Barry knew firsthand, but he nevertheless felt compelled to stand in her defense. "You know, Cisco, I've never seen Star Wars either. It's not like some sort of cataclysmic event."

Cisco began to pace back and forth in short bursts, pressing his fingers to his lips as he contemplated the situation before stopping ram-rod stiff. "That is going to change now," He darted for a locked off section of the lab which once housed a variety of weapons and even cybernetic enhancements in a time Cisco, Caitlin, and Doctor Wells prefer not to dwell on and punched in an eight digit code, causing the walls to slide open. Barry and Caitlin were discovered the incredible truth that Cisco had converted the Star Labs engineering hanger into his own personal DVD collection. Barry's perfunctory appraisal suggested that there were at least a minimum of one thousand DVDs in the entire collection.

"Does Doctor Wells approve of this? Does he even know about it?" Caitlin looked around as if she had entered a funhouse hall of mirrors.

Cisco used his index finger to cycle through his alphabetized collection. "Hey, when you have to spend hours upon hours making stuff and your only companion is ominous silence, you'd want laughter and adventure at your beck and call," Not long after the Particle Accelerator incident and the remnants of Star Labs' engineering projects were either destroyed or seized by the federal government, Cisco had (on his own time, obviously) developed a mechanical system which would alphabetize his massive collection. It took quite a bit of time and coding, but it was so very worth the effort. Everything was alphabetized and ready for Cisco's enjoyment at a moment's notice. All he had to do was punch in a few codes at his computer, and the manifestation of his genius would insert the movie into his DVD player, dim the lights, and begin the show on his own custom made television. If anyone ever asked, he would claim that he had to be ready to woo a beautiful woman at a moment's notice, but the primary justification of the matter was that he was lazy.

Barry was more amused than impressed. Cisco's taste in movies was…eclectic, to put it mildly. On the one hand, there were horror movies in foreign languages, almost all of which featured half-naked supermodels wielding blunt instruments. On the other end of the spectrum, Barry had taken out The International Alliance of Superheroes and Superspies 4: The Revenge of the Skeleton-man, an action movie about a superspy by the name Jack Freeman fighting a skeleton who was also a theoretical physicist and master of tactical espionage. Barry placed it back in what he thought was its original position, only to be reprimanded by Cisco.

"Hey! A place for everything, everything in its place, dude," He returned the DVD to its original position before almost shoving the Star Wars DVDs into Barry's arms. "The two of you are going to watch these. I don't care how you do it, where you do it, or if you watch if while profusely intoxicated, you will not do anything else until you watch these masterpieces," It wasn't really that Barry was necessarily opposed to watching Star Wars, even though he knew with almost absolute certainty that Lord of the Rings was the superior fantasy franchise, he just never got around to it, if he was being completely honest. Nevertheless, he knew that Cisco's badgering would be perpetual until he fulfilled his destiny. While he put the utmost trust into Cisco during battles with meta-humans, the conception that Cisco would willingly forego his duties because of his refusal to watch Star Wars existed somewhere in the vast realm of possibility. Barry could waste a few hours if it meant protecting the people of Central City, albeit indirectly.

Caitlin was sure that she wouldn't enjoy Star Wars. She was never a particularly avid moviegoer, only becoming genuinely invested in watching something when Ronnie's infectious excitement trumped her apathy, but the few movies she genuinely enjoyed were typically slower, smarter, and not populated by laser sword wielding psychic Muppets. Cisco had been incorrect in his assumption that Caitlin knew nothing about Star Wars; she had gathered at least a perfunctory amount of knowledge through osmosis. Her primary objection was that things that couldn't be broken down scientifically, like the Force, annoyed her more than they should have. Although ruminating about Ronnie had once been a painful experience, she fondly recalled all those Friday nights in college when Ronnie would drag her away from her work to watch whatever low-budget action movie he acquired for less than a dollar. While Ronnie had always been willing to allow Caitlin to decide the movie of the night on the occasions she found something that appealed to her sensibilities, Caitlin relished watching blatantly silly action movies with Ronnie's constant commentary and razor-sharp wit. The vague but impossible to achieve desire to relive those memories stirred inside of her. It was as if some ethereal force was guiding her mind.

"I don't know if you're doing anything tonight, Barry, but if you want we could watch them together," The words just fell out of Caitlin's mouth.

Barry, who normally went up against criminals and meta-humans with all kinds of deadly powers, suddenly found himself stunned.

"Uh…" Barry had to consciously maintain eye contact with Caitlin. He didn't want to expose the fact that Caitlin had the ability to unnerve him, even though he was certain she knew. The last time the two had spent a bit of time together had been a great deal of fun, but this for some reason felt far more intensely personal. The two would, presumably, be watching movies together with no one else in their company. Despite his worries, his instincts subconsciously informed him to accept her offer. "Yeah. Yeah. Totally," He suppressed a smile. "Can I uh…get a change of clothes first?" Barry knew his Flash costume, while impeccably stylish and heroic, wasn't proper dat-.

Wait. This wasn't a date, was it? Did Caitlin just ask him out? No. No, of course not. The two of them were friends. Friends invited each other over to watch movies all the time, right? Besides, him and Caitlin? Not in the farthest reaches of this or any other universe. Not to say that Barry wouldn't date Caitlin or anything like that. Barry was aware of the fact that Caitlin was an incredible person the same way he was aware that the sky was blue and the Sun and stars brought light to Earth; it was just one of those things that was an inherent truth of the universe. It was only after this thought that Barry realized that a few seconds had passed and Caitlin was talking.

"so how about you come over around five?" She held her arms to her chest.

"Sounds good. I'll see you then."

"Great." Caitlin's radiant smile, on the rare opportunities he was privy to it, always improved Barry's mood. He let the thought run through his mind as Caitlin left for the elevator.

Barry was suddenly reminded of Cisco's presence as he sauntered over with a curiously smug look plastered on his face. "So," he enunciated with aplomb, "You're going to Caitlin's apartment to watch movies."

"So? Iris and I used to watch movies all the time. We're allowed."

Cisco flashed a grin, "Alright. Yeah. Suuuuure."

* * *

Barry was never one to worry about clothing. He had a decent selection and never found selecting his attire to be a divisive experience. Yet, in this present moment, the fact that he was presenting himself to Caitlin made him unusually self-conscious. He had to look nice, but he feared looking too formal would send the wrong message. In these types of situations, he would consult Iris, Joe, or his dad for advice, but he only had an hour and they were all unavailable. After mentally chastising himself, he figured that he would be okay as long as he covered the essentials. (shave, shower, etc.) And yet, pangs of anxiety which were typically only reserved for Iris stirred inside of him even though he found Caitlin to be the easiest person to talk to among almost everyone he knew. It wasn't like how with Joe, Iris, or even his father there was this omnipresent negativity. He could go to her without any of the baggage of the past weighing either of them down. Sure the two knew about the other's past experiences, the good and the bad, but Barry, for some indiscernible reason, felt that it didn't matter with Caitlin. Why, then, did he presently feel so weird about seeing her? They had spent time together in the past. In any case, the time read four-forty-five, so Barry needed to make the final preparations. He didn't want to keep her waiting, after all.

* * *

Barry wait until his watch read four-fifty-nine before ringing Caitlin's doorbell. Looking at his clothing now, he regretted his decision. He looked far too casual. Not that Caitlin cared to such an extent, he thought, but he considered the possibility that he would communicate the wrong message with his present attire. Perhaps he could change bef-

"Barry Allen at my doorstep. Whatever did I do to deserve this pleasure?" The first thing Barry noticed was that Caitlin, as predictable as the sunrise, looked fantastic. There was no going back at this point. He mentally noted his father's advice regarding women: "He who hesitates is lost".

"Something smells nice." Something did indeed, other than Caitlin, smell nice. Barry wasn't sure which was more shocking: the fact that Caitlin had cooked something or that Caitlin could cook.

"Well, I wasn't lying when I told you I was a good cook. I'm a woman of many talents. I figured we could eat something together before our show."

Surprisingly, Barry found the movies modestly enjoyable. The true joy, though, was watching them with Caitlin. Even in a completely non-formal setting, Barry adored the way she never let her perceptive mind rest. Barry was well acquainted with the concept of "suspension of disbelief", but Caitlin raised an objection almost every five minutes, most of which Barry dismissed with "I wouldn't worry too much about it".

"There appears to be a psychological element to this "Force". I mean, Luke was only able to access his latent psychokinetic abilities after twenty or so years because Obi-Wan told him about them and was only able to successfully destroy the Death Star because of his belief in the Force."

The two had concluded A New Hope and were at about the mid-point of The Empire Strikes Back.

"Well I guess it's all about believing in yourself. Sort of like with me and my powers."

"True, but you're a real person. Your powers exist in the real world. There is an actual physiological explanation for how you operate. That doesn't make it any less ridiculous, but that's the way things are. The Force is just this nebulous, inconsistent element of the universe. I mean, why doesn't Princess Leia have powers if she's Luke's sister?"

Barry smiled. Truly, Caitlin was a valuable partner in watching movies.

* * *

By the time they got to Return of the Jedi, Caitlin's complaints became more illogical as the two consumed more and more wine. Barry's physiology prevented him from getting drunk and Caitlin had more than her fair share of alcohol.

"Oh Barry," She sighed. "I'm so glad I know you. I mean, the Flash is cool, but you…" She trailed off as she slumped against her end of the couch. Barry had been in this position before. "The Flash isn't as cool as you, but he's pretty cool too."

"I think it's time for sleep." Barry shifted to prepare to carry Caitlin to her bed. His move was impeded, however, by Caitlin suddenly springing to life and lazily draping her arms over his upper body. Barry was, to put it modestly, stunned.

"No." It wasn't so much a suggestion as a command.

"Uhh…Okay. It really is time for sleep." Barry felt heat rise to his face.

She responded by shuffling over into his lap and nuzzling her head onto his shoulder. "Mmm…" She mused. "So warm."

The first thing that Barry noted was that Caitlin's dress showed that she had nice legs. He felt like this was something he already knew, but it wasn't until the present moment that the knowledge was brought to the forefront of his mind, but she undeniably had _really_ nice legs. Barry would be lying if he said he wasn't completely enjoying having Caitlin pressed up against him, but he had to get out of the situation any way he could. Luckily, Caitlin's ever perceptive mind had been suppressed. Barry reached into his pocket, being ever so careful to avoid anymore contact with Caitlin.

"Hey Joe. What's that? You need me over by Northeast and Fifth? Well, I'm on the other side of town, but I can be over there really fast. But you knew that already. Yeah. I can totally grab my gear. Alright. See you soon." Barry pretended to hang up his phone and found Caitlin pouting in response to the current situation. "Sorry, Caitlin, Joe needs me on a super critical assignment and his boss is going to kill him if I'm not there in about five seconds."

She shifted her face to look directly at him. "You're phone didn't even ring."

"I had it on vibrate."

"But it didn't vibrate." Her laughter was muffled by the fact that she had practically dug her face into Barry's shoulder. Perhaps Caitlin was more perceptive than Barry assumed, even while intoxicated.

"I…" Barry felt as if his face was going to spontaneously combust. He had to get Caitlin to bed before something truly horrible happened. "I had it on silent." He shifted his arms, picked, Caitlin up, and carefully placed her in bed, suddenly becoming incredibly grateful for his powers.

"Right. There. Good. Need anything else?"

"I had a really fun time." She smiled.

"I really gotta go. I'll shut the movie off before I leave." With that, Barry sped up with an unusual amount of adrenaline. For the first time in his life, he was happy to leave Caitlin's presence. There were a number of thoughts which bounced around Barry's mind as he attempted to make sense of what exactly had happened and, perhaps more importantly, how he felt about it. Did Caitlin have a thing for him? The idea of the two of them had crossed his mind on more than one occasion, even if he only briefly entertained the idea at best. Of course, he acknowledged that Caitlin was an exceptionally amazing person. She was funny, sweet, intelligent, caring, incredibly beautiful, and adora- Damn it. There was no more use in attempting to run from the truth. Caitlin truly was something special. Ever since he became a superhero, she was always the one person he could find solace in no matter what. His double life had damaged his relationships with almost everyone in his life. Doctor Wells, Joe, Iris, even his own father, but Caitlin was the one perpetually reliable element of his life. Still reeling from the night's events, Barry figured that some rest would help clear his mind.

* * *

"Yeah. What's up?" Barry slowly acclimated to the real world as he picked up his cell phone.

"Morning player. You're like an hour and a half late for a speed check-up." Barry lamented that his superpowers didn't include the ability to punch people in the face over the phone. Perhaps Transponder could teach him.

"What? No I'm not. It's…" Barry checked his clock. It was eleven thirty. He slept in to a considerable degree. Then he remembered: Going to Star Labs meant he could potentially encounter Caitlin. It was possible that he could've used his speed to avoid her as much as possible, but that seemed like an incredibly bad way of handling things. He needed some extra time to think things through. Besides, he hadn't used a sick day at CCPD or Star Labs the entire time he was employed with both operations. One couldn't hurt.

"Actually, Cisco, I'm feeling a bit under the weather. Gonna take a day to relax. Call me if there are any meta-human emergencies." He prepared to end the call before Cisco intervened.

"Wait, dude, you're sick? You don't get sick. Do you have a fever or something?" Barry mentally chastised himself for not thinking of a better excuse. There was a brief pause before Cisco resumed talking. "Caitlin says you really should come in if you're sick."

There mere mention of Caitlin's name was enough to trigger Barry's synapses. He really was awake now. "No. I'm actually not feeling that sick. I'm gonna take some Advil, but Oliver needs me in Starling City. There might be another vigilante on the scene and he needs my help in pinpointing his identity. I'll call you guys if I need anything."

"Oliver hasn't mentioned any other major vigilantes." Barry could sense Cisco's suspicion.

"It's top secret superhero stuff. You wouldn't understand. This guy is like a vampire and he only comes out at night. Talk to you later." He practically slammed the end call button and slumped back into bed. He knew that, at some point, he would have to confront Caitlin. Besides, what was the danger with her? She wasn't some meta-human trying to kill him, she was a woman! An incredibly sweet, empathetic, and, now that Barry really thought about it, exceptionally beautiful woman, but a woman nonetheless. All the signs pointed to the idea that she reciprocated his feelings, or, at least, Barry desperately hoped that was the case. He would take a well deserved day off and confront her tomorrow.

Barry adjusted his shirt as he rode the elevator down into the lower level of Star Labs. Taking into account everything up until that moment, Barry concluded that this ranked somewhere in the ten most terrifying days of his life. While he was optimistic Caitlin would be receptive to what he was about to tell her, the consequences of failure were far more terrifying than the prospect of being forced to fight every single meta-human on the planet at the same time. Luckily only Cisco occupied the central office.

"My man Barry Allen. What's going on? How did that top secret superhero stuff in Starling City go? And, more importantly, how was movie night with Caitlin? I bet Caitlin liked Return of the Jedi the most." He was unusually enthusiastic for a rudimentary day. Barry attempted to maintain his composure.

"Fine. Oliver and I met up with him and it turns out the guy is on our side, even though he seems to like me more than he likes Oliver," A partial truth. "And movie night was…. totally fine." A lie.

Out of the corner of his eye, Barry detected a devilish grin plastered on Cisco's face as he walked away. "She's in the other room, as you were no doubt wondering." He walked away, quietly laughing to himself.

After taking a moment to suppress his urge to hit Cisco, Barry forced himself to walk towards Caitlin's location to face the moment of truth. He found her, unsurprisingly, studying some papers which were doubtlessly about some meta-human's biology. She greeted him with that ever radiant smile which now seemed to have the ability to make Barry's knees wobble.

"Morning, Barry." She too was unusually enthusiastic for a standard morning greeting. "I hope you don't mind, but Cisco and I finished Return of the Jedi with Doctor Wells the other day," She looked genuinely regretful. "It was really bugging me that I didn't know how it ended." She gave him a tiny, shy smile.

Barry smiled in response. "That's totally fine. I know Darth Vader is Luke's father."

Caitlin sheepishly laughed, she clearly wasn't relaxed by Barry's reassurance. "Uh, Barry, I just wanted to."

Barry held his hands up. "Caitlin," The anxiety that dominated Barry's body dissipated as the words came out of him. "Before you say anything else, I just want to tell you something: I think you're really awesome, and for some reason I just never caught onto it. You're funny, you're sweet, you're understanding, and you're really, really pretty," He regretted the use of "pretty". It felt hollow and childish. "I've spent the entire time since I left your apartment thinking about you. Well, you and me. And…" As red as his face was, Barry was composed enough to acknowledge that he had to choose his next words very carefully. "And it would really make me happy if we could watch Star Wars again sometime."

Caitlin was stationary for the entirety of Barry's speech. Several seconds after she finished, she recognized that she pressed her papers to her chest and bit her lip and she still hadn't responded to Barry's confession.

"Well." She stalled to gain her composure.

Barry's eyes squeezed shut as he realized that he had overstepped his boundaries. How could he have been so foolish? "You don't have to say anything. This was my fault. I wasn't thinking, Joe, or Iris, or my dad, or anybody could've told me that this was a terrible idea. I totally messed up our friendship and that's on me."

"Barry…"

"I guess all these things kept me from realizing. You and Ronnie, and Iris, and Linda, and me," He slid his hands into his pockets.

"Barry."

"I just hope we can still be friends. I mean, you help me out a lot as the Flash, but I do genuinely appr-"

"BARRY!" Caitlin stopped Barry in his verbal tracks by dropping her papers and gripping his shoulders. He looked up at her like a lost puppy.

"You were rambling," She had to suppress a laugh at how damn adorable Barry Allen, forensic investigator and fearless superhero, could be. "Rather incoherently, I might add."

Only now did Barry recognize the folly of his actions. Not only did he destroy his friendship, but now she, justifiably, was laughing at his mistake.

"And, to answer your question, yes. I would absolutely love to watch Star Wars with you at the time and place of your choosing." She didn't really care about whether or not her face was burning red, or whether she was pressing into Barry's shoulders for too long, she only cared about Star Wars, predicated on the idea that Barry Allen was included in that equation. "Just, uh," She released Barry and collected her papers sprawled across the floor. "Doctor Wells really wants this done quickly. So I'll talk to you later." Caitlin hastily reorganized her papers and went off to regain her composure.

For the second time in a short amount of time, Barry had forgotten about Cisco's presence. "I'm assuming you saw that entire thing."

"It went about as well as I could expect. Nice job, though, I was beginning to think you didn't have it in you."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Nothing. Just that I was beginning to get nervous you would keep being your clueless self and cheat me out of five dollars."

"What's THAT supposed to mean?"

"Oliver and I had a bet going on when you would finally fess up to Caitlin that you had a major thing for her. He bet you wouldn't do it until at least twenty sixteen, but I had faith in you."

Barry felt as if his heart was going to tear itself out of his chest in the name of self-preservation. "You can't be serious."

"Absolutely. And before you ask, let me think of all the people who knew about you two," He paused for a moment. "Joe, Iris, Eddie, Doctor Wells, your dad, Oliver, Felicity," He placed his thumb and index finger on his chin as Barry ran his hands over his face in dismay. "I think even Diggle and Oliver's sister picked up on it. Basically everyone but the two of you."

Barry wondered about the possibility of traveling through time to rectify this, but he reasoned that having his feelings broadcasted to everyone in his life would be far less embarrassing now that he and Caitlin were actually….a thing. This was something to laugh about, not treat with utter disgust and shame. At the moment, the only thing of genuine importance was actually being with Caitlin.  
"Do you think I can still get tickets to the new movie?" Barry hoped to change the subject. "I know people are murderous over that type of stuff."

"Of course," Cisco gave a sly grin. "But that's a few months from now. I'm guessing you want Star Wars immediately. I just might have the prequels in my collection. Fair warning: They're terrible, but I don't think you really care about that." He patted Barry on the shoulder. Barry hated waiting, after all.


End file.
